Hamer Captures School Record in Late Night Run

Calendar

Show:/

No Upcoming Events

IRVINE, Calif. – The 8:40 p.m. pacific time start was late, but Eric Hamer was not on his mission to secure the Colorado State men's 10,000-meter outdoor record Friday night in the Sound Running College Invite.

Hamer, of Monument, Colo., crossed at 28:08.95 to win the race ahead of Cincinnati's Aaron Bienenfeld by two seconds and to best the previous CSU record by 2.85 seconds. Hamer unseated former teammate Jerrell Mock of the school's No. 1 mark of 28:11.80 (3-31-17). Prior to the race, Hamer occupied the sixth-best mark in school history at 29:15.91.

Lap nine is when Hamer took his first lead and at that time it was mainly a three-runner race with Bienenfeld's teammate Alec Sandusky also in the mix. Bienefeld overtook Hamer on lap 14, but Hamer quickly established the lead by the next lap. The two separated themselves from the pack with about 3K left, creating a gap of over 10 seconds that grew to 40 seconds in the last 1K. The Bearcat did not fade from Hamer's side and even recaptured the again with 700 meters left, but Hamer moved in front again and held until the victory.

The record is the second obtained in the past month for Hamer as he reestablished his indoor 5,000 at the NCAA Championships. In that race, Hamer finished second, while Bienenfeld took fifth and Sandusky 14^th. Today, Bienenfeld and Sandusky each clocked the top-two spots in their school's record book as well.

Results

Coach's Corner
Assistant Distance Coach Andrew Epperson
"Eric was really focused. He came here trying to get the school record, but that is not an easy school record to get. He could have gotten discouraged when the pacer dropped out early or when it was basically a two-man race, but he did not. He stayed laser focused. There was a point when I thought he might have started to go backwards, but he snapped out of it. His mentally fortitude right now is unbelievable. He trusts his training and has not lost any progress since indoors. Big props to Bienenfeld. He came ready to run and it was a good pairing between him and Hamer."

Student-Athlete's Perspective
Graduate Student Eric Hamer
"Going into the race, the feeling was the 28-flat was possible, but also that a school record is a school record, so do not fold if you have the opportunity to go for it. There were a few guys in the field that were at indoor nationals, so we kinda bumped fists prior and knew what we were going for and had a plan. We thought we had a pacer that would get through at least a 5K, but that fell through so, we communicated some and traded laps, while getting feedback our Coach Epperson. Usually in this race, you check out for 5K then finish hard for the second 5K, but that was not how this was as it was a full analysis all the way through lap-by-lap. With 900m to go, we were on a good pace, so I told myself if you want that school record, you must close and commit. I said to myself, 'Eric, you're PR'ing no matter what, but a school record is a school record. If you want it, you have to commit now.' That is how it is with racing. There are no guarantees. You must risk something big to get it, so all I was thinking about going to the finish was all those fast 400 workouts. Also, with a lap to go I was reminded that it was very much a race still and there was a man on my tail and I wanted to beat him."

For More on Colorado State Track & Field and Cross Country follow: Twitter – CSUTrackFieldXC | Instagram – csutrackfieldXC | Facebook – Colorado State Track & Field/Cross Country

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results